You are on page 1of 55

Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 1 of 55

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT


FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Senator RICHARD BLUMENTHAL,


Representative JERROLD NADLER, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

v. Civil Action No. 17-1154 (EGS)


DONALD J. TRUMP, in his official capacity as
President of the United States of America,

Defendant.

PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR A STAY


AND SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEF REGARDING DEFENDANT’S MOTION
FOR CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b)

Elizabeth B. Wydra (DC Bar No. 483298)


Brianne J. Gorod (DC Bar No. 982075)
Brian R. Frazelle (DC Bar No. 1014116)
CONSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
CENTER
1200 18th Street, N.W., Suite 501
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 296-6889
elizabeth@theusconstitution.org
brianne@theusconstitution.org

Counsel for Plaintiffs


Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 2 of 55

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES .................................................................................................. ii

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1

LEGAL STANDARDS .......................................................................................................... 4

ARGUMENT .......................................................................................................................... 10

I. The President’s Motion for a Stay Must Be Denied ................................................... 10

A. Likelihood of Success on the Merits ............................................................... 10

1. Standing ..................................................................................................... 10

2. Scope of the Foreign Emoluments Clause ................................................. 18

3. Availability of Equitable Relief ................................................................. 23

B. Irreparable Harm ............................................................................................. 25

C. Harm to Plaintiffs ............................................................................................ 35

D. The Public Interest .......................................................................................... 38

II. The Criteria for Interlocutory Appeal Are Not Satisfied ............................................ 40

A. Substantial Ground for Difference of Opinion ............................................... 41

B. Advancing the Ultimate Termination of the Litigation ................................... 42

CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 45

i
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 3 of 55

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Page(s)
CASES
Aamer v. Obama,
742 F.3d 1023 (D.C. Cir. 2014) ................................................................................ 8

Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Emps., AFL-CIO v. Pierce,


697 F.2d 303 (D.C. Cir. 1982) .................................................................................. 13

Amer. Sch. of Magnetic Healing v. McAnnulty,


187 U.S. 94 (1902) .................................................................................................... 25
Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Indep. Redistricting Comm’n,
135 S. Ct. 2652 (2015) .............................................................................................. 13

Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Ctr., Inc.,


135 S. Ct. 1378 (2015) .............................................................................................. 24

Baker v. Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahirya,


810 F. Supp. 2d 90 (D.D.C. 2011) ............................................................................ 26, 35
Barnes v. Kline,
759 F.2d 21 (D.C. Cir. 1984) .................................................................................... 13, 18

Bliley v. Kelly,
23 F.3d 507 (D.C. Cir. 1994) .................................................................................... 13

Blumenthal v. Trump,
2019 WL 1923398 (D.D.C. Apr. 30, 2019) .............................................................. passim
Blumenthal v. Trump,
335 F. Supp. 3d 45 (D.D.C. 2018) ............................................................................ passim

Burke v. Barnes,
479 U.S. 361 (1987) .................................................................................................. 13

Campbell v. Clinton,
203 F.3d 19 (D.C. Cir. 2000) .................................................................................... 12, 14, 15
Carroll v. Safford,
44 U.S. 441 (1845) .................................................................................................... 25

Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches v. England,


454 F.3d 290 (D.C. Cir. 2006) .................................................................................. passim

Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Court for D.C.,


542 U.S. 367 (2004) .................................................................................................. 34

ii
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 4 of 55

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES – cont’d


Page(s)
Chenoweth v. Clinton,
181 F.3d 112 (D.C. Cir. 1999) .................................................................................. 14

Clinton v. Jones,
520 U.S. 681 (1997) .................................................................................................. passim
Coleman v. Miller,
307 U.S. 433 (1939) .................................................................................................. 13, 17, 36

Comm. in Solidarity With the People of El Salvador v. Sessions,


929 F.2d 742 (D.C. Cir. 1991) .................................................................................. 25

Comm. on Oversight & Gov’t Reform v. Holder,


2013 WL 11241275 (D.D.C. Nov. 18, 2013) ............................................................ 2, 5
Comm. on the Judiciary v. Miers,
558 F. Supp. 2d 53 (D.D.C. 2008) ............................................................................ 40

Council of D.C. v. Gray,


2014 WL 11015652 (D.D.C. May 22, 2014) ............................................................ 28

CREW v. FEC,
904 F.3d 1014 (D.C. Cir. 2018) ............................................................................. 2, 5, 7, 26, 45
Cummings v. Murphy,
321 F. Supp. 3d 92 (D.D.C. 2018) ............................................................................ 12, 13

Cuomo v. NRC,
772 F.2d 972 (D.C. Cir. 1985) .................................................................................. 5, 6, 28

Doe 1 v. Trump,
2017 WL 6553389 (D.C. Cir. Dec. 22, 2017) ........................................................... passim
Educ. Assistance Found. v. United States,
2014 WL 12780253 (D.D.C. Nov. 21, 2014) ............................................................ 43

First Am. Corp. v. Al-Nahyan,


948 F. Supp. 1107 (D.D.C. 1996) ............................................................................. 42

Free Enter. Fund v. PCAOB,


561 U.S. 477 (2010) .................................................................................................. 23, 24
Friendship Edison Pub. Charter Sch. Collegiate Campus v. Nesbitt,
704 F. Supp. 2d 50 (D.D.C. 2010) ............................................................................ 9, 19
FTC v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal.,
449 U.S. 232 (1980) .................................................................................................. 27

iii
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 5 of 55

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES – cont’d


Page(s)
Gen. Carbon Co. v. OSHRC,
854 F.2d 1329 (D.C. Cir. 1988) ................................................................................ 45

Glossip v. Gross,
135 S. Ct. 2726 (2015) .............................................................................................. 7
Goldwater v. Carter,
617 F.2d 697 (D.C. Cir. 1979) .................................................................................. 13

Gordon v. Holder,
721 F.3d 638 (D.C. Cir. 2013) .................................................................................. 10, 38

Grace v. Whitaker,
2019 WL 329572 (D.D.C. Jan. 25, 2019) ................................................................. 9
Grupo Mexicano de Desarrollo, S.A. v. All. Bond Fund, Inc.,
527 U.S. 308 (1999) .................................................................................................. 23, 24

Harmon v. Brucker,
355 U.S. 579 (1958) .................................................................................................. 24

Hilton v. Braunskill,
481 U.S. 770 (1987) .................................................................................................. 10, 29
House of Representatives v. Burwell,
2015 WL 13699275 (D.D.C. Oct. 19, 2015) ............................................................. 5, 42

In re al-Nashiri,
791 F.3d 71 (D.C. Cir. 2015) .................................................................................... 28

In re Hardy,
561 B.R. 281 (D.D.C. 2016)...................................................................................... 35
In re NRG Power Mktg., Inc.,
2003 WL 21768028 (D.C. Cir. July 16, 2003) .......................................................... 7

In re Special Proceedings,
840 F. Supp. 2d 370 (D.D.C. 2012) ......................................................................... 6, 7, 8, 9, 12

John Doe Co. v. CFPB,


849 F.3d 1129 (D.C. Cir. 2017) ......................................................................... 3, 25, 26, 27, 28
Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Nat’l Energy Pol. Dev. Grp.,
233 F. Supp. 2d 16 (D.D.C. 2002) ........................................................................... 5, 41, 42, 44
Kendall v. United States ex rel. Stokes,
37 U.S. 524 (1838) .................................................................................................... 25

iv
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 6 of 55

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES – cont’d


Page(s)
Kennedy v. Sampson,
511 F.2d 430 (D.C. Cir. 1974) .................................................................................. 13

Kiyemba v. Bush,
2008 WL 4898963 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 20, 2008) ............................................................ 7
Land v. Dollar,
330 U.S. 731 (1947) .................................................................................................. 25

Landis v. N. Am. Co.,


299 U.S. 248 (1936) .................................................................................................. 6, 36

League of Women Voters of the United States v. Newby,


838 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2016) ...................................................................................... passim
Llewelyn v. Oakland Cty. Prosecutor’s Office,
402 F. Supp. 1379 (E.D. Mich. 1975) ....................................................................... 10

Marbury v. Madison,
5 U.S. 137 (1803) ...................................................................................................... 25

MCI WorldCom, Inc. v. FCC,


1999 WL 1863622 (D.C. Cir. May 18, 1999) ........................................................... 7
Mexichem Specialty Resins, Inc. v. EPA,
787 F.3d 544 (D.C. Cir. 2015) .................................................................................. 2, 26

Mohawk Indus., Inc. v. Carpenter,


558 U.S. 100 (2009) .................................................................................................. 44

Nat’l Cmty. Reinvest. Coal. v. Accr. Home Lenders Holding Co.,


597 F. Supp. 2d 120 (D.D.C. 2009) .......................................................................... 41, 42
Nat’l Treasury Emps. Union v. Nixon,
492 F.2d 587 (D.C. Cir. 1974) .................................................................................. 25

Nixon v. Adm’r of Gen. Servs.,


433 U.S. 425 (1977) .................................................................................................. 33

Nixon v. Fitzgerald,
457 U.S. 731 (1982) ......................................................................................... 21, 30, 31, 33, 39
Nken v. Holder,
556 U.S. 418 (2009) .................................................................................................. passim
Noel Canning v. NLRB,
705 F.3d 490 (D.C. Cir. 2013) .................................................................................. 16

v
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 7 of 55

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES – cont’d


Page(s)
Oestereich v. Selective Serv. Sys. Local Bd. No. 11,
393 U.S. 233 (1968) .................................................................................................. 25

Population Inst. v. McPherson,


797 F.2d 1062 (D.C. Cir. 1986) ................................................................................ 38
Price v. Dunn,
2019 WL 2078104 (U.S. May 13, 2019) ................................................................... 8

Pursuing Am.’s Greatness v. FEC,


831 F.3d 500 (D.C. Cir. 2016) .................................................................................. 8

Raines v. Byrd,
521 U.S. 811 (1997) .............................................................................................. 12, 13, 15, 36
Reno v. Am.-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm.,
525 U.S. 471 (1999) .................................................................................................. 38

Riegle v. Fed. Open Mkt. Comm.,


656 F.2d 873 (D.C. Cir. 1981) .................................................................................. 13

Sale v. Haitian Ctrs. Council, Inc.,


509 U.S. 155 (1993) .................................................................................................. 25
Santa Fe Pac. R.R. Co. v. Payne,
259 U.S. 197 (1922) .................................................................................................. 25

Sargent v. Paine Webber Jackson & Curtis, Inc.,


882 F.2d 529 (D.C. Cir. 1989) .................................................................................. 5

Scripps-Howard Radio v. FCC,


316 U.S. 4 (1942) ...................................................................................................... 25
Spalding v. Vilas,
161 U.S. 483 (1896) .................................................................................................. 34

Steele v. United States,


287 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D.D.C. 2017) .............................................................................. 8, 9, 26

Swint v. Chambers Cty. Comm’n,


514 U.S. 35 (1995) .................................................................................................... 5
Tolson v. United States,
732 F.2d 998 (D.C. Cir. 1984) .................................................................................. 41
Trout v. Garrett,
891 F.2d 332 (D.C. Cir. 1989) .................................................................................. 5

vi
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 8 of 55

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES – cont’d


Page(s)
United States v. Burr,
25 F. Cas. 30 (C.C.Va. 1807) .................................................................................... 29, 33

United States v. Munoz-Flores,


495 U.S. 385 (1990) .................................................................................................. 15
United States v. Nixon,
418 U.S. 683 (1974) .................................................................................................. 33, 41

United States v. Philip Morris Inc.,


314 F.3d 612 (D.C. Cir. 2003) .................................................................................. 7, 38

United States v. Richardson,


418 U.S. 166 (1974) .................................................................................................. 15
United States v. W. Elec. Co.,
777 F.2d 23 (D.C. Cir. 1985) .................................................................................... 27

Va. Petroleum Jobbers Ass’n v. FPC,


259 F.2d 921 (D.C. Cir. 1958) .................................................................................. 5, 25, 35

Van Hollen v. FEC,


2012 WL 1758569 (D.C. Cir. May 14, 2012) ........................................................... 7
Virginian R. Co. v. United States,
272 U.S. 658 (1926) .................................................................................................. 5

Vitarelli v. Seaton,
359 U.S. 535 (1959) .................................................................................................. 25

Wash. Metro. Area Transit Comm’n v. Holiday Tours, Inc.,


559 F.2d 841 (D.C. Cir. 1977) .................................................................................. 8, 27
Wash. Post v. NLRB,
1993 WL 411478 (D.C. Cir. Sept. 24, 1993) ............................................................ 7

Watson Labs., Inc. v. Sebelius,


2012 WL 13076147 (D.D.C. Oct. 23, 2012) ............................................................. passim

Winter v. NRDC,
555 U.S. 7 (2008) ...................................................................................................... 7, 10
Wisc. Gas Co. v. FERC,
758 F.2d 669 (D.C. Cir. 1985) .................................................................................. passim
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer,
343 U.S. 579 (1952) .................................................................................................. 25

vii
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 9 of 55

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES – cont’d


Page(s)
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS, STATUTES, AND LEGISLATIVE MATERIALS
28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) ....................................................................................................... passim

S. Rep. No. 85-2434 (1958) ........................................................................................... 6, 44

U.S. Const. art. I, § 3, cl. 1 ............................................................................................. 11

U.S. Const. art. I, § 5, cl. 3 ............................................................................................. 11

U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2 ........................................................................................... 11

U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1 .......................................................................................... 24

EXECUTIVE BRANCH MATERIALS


Applicability of the Emoluments Clause to Non-Government Members of ACUS, 17 Op.
O.L.C. 114 (1993) ..................................................................................................... 19, 23

Application of Emoluments Clause to Part-Time Consultant for the Nuclear Regulatory


Comm’n, 10 Op. O.L.C. 96 (1986) ............................................................................ 38

BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND OTHER AUTHORITIES


Barclay’s A Complete and Universal English Dictionary on a New Plan (1774)......... 20

16 Federal Practice & Procedure (3d ed.) .................................................................... 6, 43, 44

Fed. Ct. App. Manual § 5:6 (6th ed.) ............................................................................. 6


The Federalist No. 58 (Madison) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961) ..................................... 15, 16

Letter from Pat A. Cipollone, Counsel to the President, to Chairman Jerrold Nadler (May
15, 2019), https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6004364-Cipollone-Letter-to-
Nadler-5-15-19.html#document/p1 ........................................................................... 18
John F. Preis, In Defense of Implied Injunctive Relief in Constitutional Cases, 22 Wm. &
Mary Bill of Rts. J. 1 (2013) ..................................................................................... 24

viii
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 10 of 55

INTRODUCTION

President Trump’s supplemental brief and motion for a stay make clear what he seeks in

this case: outright immunity from a constitutional rule that binds every other official in the

executive branch. The duty imposed by the Foreign Emoluments Clause is a straightforward one

shared by every person who holds an office of profit or trust in the federal government. Yet for

more than two years now, the President has been violating it—accepting financial benefits from

foreign governments without first obtaining Congress’s affirmative consent.

The President’s convoluted and self-serving interpretation of the Foreign Emoluments

Clause is untenable, as this Court has recognized. But the President now seeks to achieve a de facto

victory in this case anyway, by delaying its resolution. Already more than halfway through his

term, President Trump knows that pausing the litigation while he pursues an appeal will frustrate

any chance of resolving this case before the end of his current term. If the President succeeds in

running out the clock, an entire presidential term will have gone by with the nation’s highest

officeholder making countless foreign policy decisions under a cloud of potentially divided loyalty

and compromised judgment caused by his enrichment from foreign states. That is precisely the

nightmare scenario the Framers adopted the Foreign Emoluments Clause to avoid.

This Court should not allow it. Plaintiffs’ case must be allowed to move forward, or the

Foreign Emoluments Clause, and its essential safeguards against the corruption of America’s

leaders, will be a dead letter. That is why regardless of whether this Court decides to certify an

interlocutory appeal—and the President has not satisfied, and cannot satisfy, the standard

necessary to justify interlocutory review, see infra—this Court should deny the President’s request

for a stay. Given the posture of this case and the inherent delays of appellate review, a stay would

jeopardize any realistic chance of holding President Trump accountable to the Foreign

1
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 11 of 55

Emoluments Clause. Moreover, granting a stay would negate one of the essential requirements of

28 U.S.C. § 1292(b)—that the appeal “may materially advance the ultimate termination of the

litigation.” Id. If Plaintiffs prevail on appeal after a stay has been granted, the appeal will have

significantly prolonged rather than advanced the termination of this litigation because the

discovery process will be starting from scratch upon remand. By contrast, the absence of a stay

will not in any way slow down the President’s ability to terminate the case by winning on appeal.

Critically, the President has come nowhere close to satisfying “the stringent requirements”

he must meet “to obtain the extraordinary relief of a stay pending appeal.” CREW v. FEC, 904

F.3d 1014, 1016-17 (D.C. Cir. 2018). The burden is on the President to show that those

requirements are met. Id. at 1016. Yet remarkably, his cursory argument in favor of a stay does

not explain what those requirements are—much less show that they are satisfied. Instead, the

President asserts that a stay is proper “[f]or the same reasons that § 1292(b) certification is

appropriate.” Def. Supp. Br. 19 (Dkt. No. 71-1). But “the conditions for a stay ... are different than

the conditions for an interlocutory appeal,” Comm. on Oversight & Gov’t Reform v. Holder, 2013

WL 11241275, at *2 (D.D.C. Nov. 18, 2013), and the President cannot possibly satisfy them.

In place of sustained argument under the governing legal tests, President Trump takes two

tacks. First, he notes that the Fourth Circuit granted a stay of discovery while considering a petition

for a writ of mandamus (not an interlocutory appeal) in District of Columbia v. Trump. But the

two cases present different legal questions, and in any event this case is not in the Fourth Circuit.

Here, the President must show that the “high standard” set by the D.C. Circuit has been satisfied.

Mexichem Specialty Resins, Inc. v. EPA, 787 F.3d 544, 555 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (quoting Chaplaincy

of Full Gospel Churches v. England, 454 F.3d 290, 297 (D.C. Cir. 2006)).

Second, the President throws adjectives at the problem, asserting that the supposedly

2
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 12 of 55

“exceptional,” “extraordinary,” and “unprecedented” circumstances here warrant a stay. Def.

Supp. Br. 1, 20. The President’s hyperbole is no substitute for the multi-part showing he must

make. Among other things, the President must demonstrate that he “will be irreparably injured

absent a stay.” Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 426 (2009) (citation omitted). Any such injury “must

be ‘certain and great,’ ‘actual and not theoretical,’ and so ‘imminen[t] that there is a clear and

present need for equitable relief.’” League of Women Voters of the United States v. Newby, 838

F.3d 1, 7-8 (D.C. Cir. 2016) (quoting Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 297). The President has not even

attempted to make that showing. The closest he comes is to claim that “[a]ny discovery would

necessarily be a distraction to the President’s performance of his constitutional duties” while airily

invoking the separation of powers. Def. Supp. Br. 20. But how could that be so? Discovery here

will be focused on third-party businesses owned by the President—which he has repeatedly

claimed he has no involvement in running. Plaintiffs do not plan to seek any information from the

executive branch or any other government. To the extent that Plaintiffs may need access to some

of the President’s personal financial records, the President does not explain how this limited

document exchange constitutes irreparable harm to him personally, or how it presents a risk of

interference with his presidential duties that is so certain, great, and imminent that there is “a clear

and present need” for a stay. Newby, 838 F.3d at 8.

In short, the President offers only “sweeping and conclusory statements,” Doe 1 v. Trump,

2017 WL 6553389, at *2 (D.C. Cir. Dec. 22, 2017), but the D.C. Circuit has repeatedly recognized

that such “entirely unsubstantiated and conclusory assertions,” John Doe Co. v. CFPB, 849 F.3d

1129, 1134 (D.C. Cir. 2017), do not satisfy the irreparable-harm standard. See Wisc. Gas Co. v.

FERC, 758 F.2d 669, 674 (D.C. Cir. 1985) (“Bare allegations of what is likely to occur are of no

value …. The movant must provide ... proof indicating that the harm is certain to occur in the near

3
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 13 of 55

future.”). Likewise, the Supreme Court has consistently held that presidents cannot obtain stays or

other special exemptions from litigation merely by invoking the separation of powers or making

unsupported claims that “burdens will be placed on the President that will hamper the performance

of his official duties.” Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 701 (1997).

The President fares no better on the other requirements he must satisfy to obtain a stay. Far

from demonstrating that he is likely to succeed on the merits of an appeal, his briefing only reveals

how tenuous his positions are: unable to furnish new arguments or any new support that would

undermine this Court’s rulings, he is reduced to simply reiterating the same points this Court

already considered and rejected. He also fails to show that a stay will not harm Plaintiffs, a danger

readily apparent from the posture of this case and the obvious consequences of delaying discovery

until after an appeal. Finally, in light of the grave threats to the nation that ensue when its President

accepts secret payments from undisclosed foreign governments in defiance of the Constitution, the

public interest tips decidedly against a stay.

Nor can the President satisfy the requirements set out in 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) for

interlocutory appeal, which is meant to be a rare exception to the rule that appeals must await final

judgment. The President cannot meet his burden of identifying a “substantial ground for difference

of opinion” because he essentially repeats the same arguments this Court previously rejected,

without providing any reason to think that other courts would reach a different conclusion. And

his request for an interlocutory appeal is at odds with his request for a stay, because the granting

of that stay, in the posture of this case, would delay rather than advance “the ultimate termination

of the litigation.” The President’s motions should be denied.

LEGAL STANDARDS

Section 1292(b) permits a non-final judicial order to be certified for an immediate appeal

4
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 14 of 55

when a district judge believes the order (1) “involves a controlling question of law,” (2) “as to

which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion,” and (3) “an immediate appeal from

the order may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.” 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).

“The moving party bears the burden of establishing all three elements.” House of Representatives

v. Burwell, 2015 WL 13699275, at *1 (D.D.C. Oct. 19, 2015). Because interlocutory appeals under

§ 1292(b) are an “exception to the firm final judgment rule,” Trout v. Garrett, 891 F.2d 332, 335

(D.C. Cir. 1989), which “is designed to prevent parties from interrupting litigation by pursuing

piecemeal appeals,” Swint v. Chambers Cty. Comm’n, 514 U.S. 35, 45 (1995), a “party seeking

certification pursuant to § 1292(b) must meet a high standard to overcome the strong congressional

policy against piecemeal reviews, and against obstructing or impeding an ongoing judicial

proceeding by interlocutory appeals.” Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Nat’l Energy Pol. Dev. Grp., 233 F.

Supp. 2d 16, 20 (D.D.C. 2002) (quotation marks omitted); see Pls. Opp. to Mot. for Certification

(Dkt. No. 61) (providing more detail on § 1292(b) standards).

Importantly, “[a]pplication for an appeal under § 1292(b) does not automatically stay

proceedings in the district court,” Sargent v. Paine Webber Jackson & Curtis, Inc., 882 F.2d 529,

530 (D.C. Cir. 1989), and “the conditions for a stay ... are different than the conditions for an

interlocutory appeal,” Holder, 2013 WL 11241275, at *2. Indeed, “a stay pending appeal is an

extraordinary remedy.” Watson Labs., Inc. v. Sebelius, 2012 WL 13076147, at *1 (D.D.C. Oct. 23,

2012); accord CREW, 904 F.3d at 1017 (citing “the extraordinary relief of a stay pending appeal”);

Cuomo v. NRC, 772 F.2d 972, 978 (D.C. Cir. 1985). “A stay is an ‘intrusion into the ordinary

processes of administration and judicial review,’ and accordingly ‘is not a matter of right, even if

irreparable injury might otherwise result to the appellant.’” Nken, 556 U.S. at 427 (quoting Va.

Petroleum Jobbers Ass’n v. FPC, 259 F.2d 921, 925 (D.C. Cir. 1958) (per curiam), and Virginian

5
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 15 of 55

R. Co. v. United States, 272 U.S. 658, 672 (1926)).

Requests to stay proceedings while seeking an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C.

§ 1292(b) are even more disfavored. While that statute authorizes immediate appeals in limited

circumstances, it includes an important caveat: “Provided, however, That application for an appeal

hereunder shall not stay proceedings in the district court unless the district judge or the Court of

Appeals or a judge thereof shall so order.” 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). By providing that “[t]he

presumption is against a stay,” and “requiring that a stay be specifically ordered, Congress

intended to avoid unnecessary delays.” Fed. Ct. App. Manual § 5:6 (6th ed.) (footnotes omitted).

Indeed, Congress created interlocutory appeals precisely because of “the need for

expedition of cases pending before the district courts.” S. Rep. No. 85-2434, at *5256 (1958). And

aware that such appeals might, counterproductively, “result in delay rather than expedition of

cases,” Congress established several “protection[s] against delay,” including “the provision which

requires that application for an appeal pursuant to this legislation will not stay proceedings in the

district court unless such a stay is ordered.” Id. at *5257. Thus, even when “the certified order may

dispose of the entire case without need for further proceedings, ... there may be good reason for

pushing ahead, particularly if there is any reason to fear that effective discovery is threatened by

delay.” 16 Federal Practice & Procedure § 3929 (3d ed.) (footnote omitted).

On any stay motion, “it is the movant’s obligation to justify the court’s exercise of such an

extraordinary remedy.” In re Special Proceedings, 840 F. Supp. 2d 370, 372 (D.D.C. 2012)

(quoting Cuomo, 772 F.2d at 978); see Nken, 556 U.S. at 433-34 (a stay is “an exercise of judicial

discretion,” and “[t]he party requesting a stay bears the burden of showing that the circumstances

justify an exercise of that discretion”); Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 255 (1936) (“the

suppliant for a stay must make out a clear case of hardship or inequity in being required to go

6
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 16 of 55

forward, if there is even a fair possibility that the stay ... will work damage to some one else”).

“In determining whether to stay an order pending appeal, the Court considers the same four

factors as it would in resolving a motion for a preliminary injunction: ‘(1) whether the stay

applicant has made a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits; (2) whether the

applicant will be irreparably injured absent a stay; (3) whether issuance of the stay will

substantially injure the other parties interested in the proceeding; and (4) where the public interest

lies.’” In re Special Proceedings, 840 F. Supp. 2d at 372 (quoting Nken, 556 U.S. at 434); see

Doe 1, 2017 WL 6553389, at *1; Winter v. NRDC, 555 U.S. 7, 24 (2008).

These standards are “stringent,” as the D.C. Circuit has consistently emphasized. See, e.g.,

CREW, 904 F.3d at 1016 (noting “the stringent requirements for a stay pending appeal.”); Doe 1,

2017 WL 6553389, at *1 (same); Van Hollen v. FEC, 2012 WL 1758569, at *1 (D.C. Cir. May

14, 2012) (same); Kiyemba v. Bush, 2008 WL 4898963, at *1 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 20, 2008) (same); In

re NRG Power Mktg., Inc., 2003 WL 21768028, at *1 (D.C. Cir. July 16, 2003) (same); MCI

WorldCom, Inc. v. FCC, 1999 WL 1863622, at *1 (D.C. Cir. May 18, 1999) (same); Wash. Post

v. NLRB, 1993 WL 411478, at *1 (D.C. Cir. Sept. 24, 1993) (same).

Significantly, a movant seeking a stay must prevail on all four factors. See Nken, 556 U.S.

at 426, 435; Glossip v. Gross, 135 S. Ct. 2726, 2736 (2015); Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 304 (even if

the “irreparable harm prong” is satisfied, “a preliminary injunction will not issue unless the moving

party also shows, on the same facts, a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, that the

injunction would not substantially injure other interested parties, and that the public interest would

be furthered by the injunction”); United States v. Philip Morris Inc., 314 F.3d 612, 617 (D.C. Cir.

2003) (all four criteria needed for stay of discovery pending interlocutory appeal).

“The D.C. Circuit traditionally evaluated these four factors using a sliding-scale

7
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 17 of 55

approach—meaning that a strong showing on one factor could make up for a weaker showing on

another.” Steele v. United States, 287 F. Supp. 3d 1, 3 (D.D.C. 2017) (quotation marks omitted).

In particular, “in cases where the other three factors strongly favor[ed] issuing an injunction,” the

Circuit held that “a plaintiff need only raise a ‘serious legal question’ on the merits.” Aamer v.

Obama, 742 F.3d 1023, 1043 (D.C. Cir. 2014). After Nken and Winter, this approach is no longer

valid. See Nken, 556 U.S. at 438 (Kennedy, J., concurring) (“When considering success on the

merits and irreparable harm, courts cannot dispense with the required showing of one simply

because there is a strong likelihood of the other.”); Price v. Dunn, 2019 WL 2078104, at *4 (U.S.

May 13, 2019) (Thomas, J., concurring in the denial of certiorari) (“Under the traditional stay

factors, a petitioner is required to make ‘a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits.’

It is not enough ... that the question be ‘substantial.’” (citations omitted)).1

Significantly, however, even under the Circuit’s traditional approach, a lesser showing on

the first factor could be overcome only when all the remaining factors weighed heavily in favor of

a stay. See Wash. Metro. Area Transit Comm’n v. Holiday Tours, Inc., 559 F.2d 841, 843 (D.C.

Cir. 1977) (“a substantial case on the merits” may suffice “when ... the other three factors strongly

favor interim relief” (emphasis added)); id. at 844 (“it will ordinarily be enough that the plaintiff

has raised questions going to the merits so serious, substantial, difficult and doubtful, as to make

them a fair ground for litigation” “if the other elements are present (i.e., the balance of hardships

tips decidedly toward plaintiff)” (emphasis added)); see also Watson Labs., 2012 WL 13076147,

at *1 n.1; In re Special Proceedings, 840 F. Supp. 2d at 372 (“[T]he Court is not persuaded that

merely raising a ‘serious legal question’ on the merits is sufficient for [a party] to obtain a stay

1
Thus far, the Circuit has not had a case in which it was necessary to resolve “whether a
sliding-scale test of this sort survives Winter.” Steele, 287 F. Supp. 3d at 3; see, e.g., Pursuing
Am.’s Greatness v. FEC, 831 F.3d 500, 505 n.1 (D.C. Cir. 2016).

8
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 18 of 55

based on this factor. Typically, a movant must show a likelihood of success on the merits to achieve

a stay. It is only when the other three factors tip sharply in the movant’s favor that the standard for

success on the merits changes.”).

On the first factor of the stay analysis, “[m]ore than a mere possibility of relief is required.”

Nken, 556 U.S. at 434 (quotation marks omitted). And in this Circuit, “the law is clear that a party

cannot establish the necessary likelihood of success merely by reiterating arguments it made

previously to the court.” Watson Labs., 2012 WL 13076147, at *1; see In re Special Proceedings,

840 F. Supp. 2d at 372 (likelihood of success not satisfied where movant’s legal arguments “are

identical to the arguments he asserted [before], all of which the Court carefully and thoroughly

considered and ultimately rejected,” and where movant “has offered neither new argument nor

new support for his previously-raised arguments”); Grace v. Whitaker, 2019 WL 329572, at *3

(D.D.C. Jan. 25, 2019) (rejecting stay based on “a repackaging” of arguments made earlier); Steele,

287 F. Supp. 3d at 4 (rejecting “rehashed arguments”); Friendship Edison Pub. Charter Sch.

Collegiate Campus v. Nesbitt, 704 F. Supp. 2d 50, 53 (D.D.C. 2010) (movant “offer[ed] no new

rationale for why [the court’s prior] conclusion was incorrect”).

“By the same token, simply showing some possibility of irreparable injury, fails to satisfy

the second factor” of the stay analysis. Nken, 556 U.S. at 434-35 (citation and quotation marks

omitted). Indeed, the D.C. Circuit has established a particularly “high standard” for irreparable

injury. Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 297. The harm “‘must be both certain and great; it must be actual

and not theoretical.’ The moving party must show ‘[t]he injury complained of is of such imminence

that there is a “clear and present” need for equitable relief to prevent irreparable harm.’” Id.

(quoting Wisc. Gas, 758 F.2d at 674). For this reason, the Circuit requires “that the movant

substantiate the claim that irreparable injury is ‘likely’ to occur,” and it consistently rejects

9
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 19 of 55

“unsubstantiated and speculative allegations.” Wisc. Gas, 758 F.2d at 674.

“Once an applicant satisfies the first two factors,” a court still must assess “the harm to the

opposing party and weigh[] the public interest.” Nken, 556 U.S. at 435. Failure on either of those

factors also dooms a movant’s request. See Winter, 555 U.S. at 23-24 (failure to satisfy “public

interest” factor “alone requires denial of the requested injunctive relief,” regardless of whether

“plaintiffs have ... established a likelihood of success on the merits”). Significantly, it is the

movant’s burden “to show that issuance of the stay will not substantially injure the other parties to

the proceeding.” Doe 1, 2017 WL 6553389, at *3 (emphasis added). And “[i]t may be assumed

that the Constitution is the ultimate expression of the public interest.” Gordon v. Holder, 721 F.3d

638, 653 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (quoting Llewelyn v. Oakland Cty. Prosecutor’s Office, 402 F. Supp.

1379, 1393 (E.D. Mich. 1975)).

ARGUMENT

I. The President’s Motion for a Stay Must Be Denied

A. Likelihood of Success on the Merits

To obtain the extraordinary relief of a stay pending appeal, a movant must make “a strong

showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits.” Nken, 556 U.S. at 426 (quoting Hilton v.

Braunskill, 481 U.S. 770, 776 (1987)). The President has not done so. He has not even tried. His

only discussion of the merits is intended to satisfy the lower standard for interlocutory certification,

i.e., that “there is substantial ground for difference of opinion” about this Court’s rulings, 28 U.S.C.

§ 1292(b). The President fails to meet even that standard, much less make a “strong showing” that

he is “likely” to prevail on appeal, Nken, 556 U.S. at 426.

1. Standing

Concerning Plaintiffs’ standing, the President “merely ... reiterate[s] arguments [he] made

previously to the court,” Watson Labs., 2012 WL 13076147, at *1, superficially reframing them

10
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 20 of 55

by prefacing each with the words “reasonable jurists could disagree ....” See Def. Mem. 10-17

(Dkt. No. 60-1). Continuing to cite the same decisions he relied on in his motion to dismiss, none

of which involved the Foreign Emoluments Clause or another constitutional provision with its

distinctive characteristics, the President once again fails to reckon with that Clause’s unique nature

and how it demands a conclusion that standing exists here.

The Foreign Emoluments Clause has two features that are each “unusual” in their own

right, as this Court has recognized, and no other constitutional provision combines both of these

unusual features. First, the Clause imposes a specific procedural requirement (obtain “the Consent

of the Congress”) that federal officials must satisfy before they take certain actions (accept “any”

emolument “of any kind whatever” from “any ... foreign state”). As this Court noted, the “only

similar provision” in the Constitution is the requirement that presidents obtain the Senate’s advice

and consent before appointing officers and making treaties. Blumenthal v. Trump, 335 F. Supp. 3d

45, 62 n.8 (D.D.C. 2018) (citing U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2).

This unambiguous requirement of a successful prior vote, combined with the unambiguous

right of each Senator and Representative to participate in those votes, id. at 54 (citing U.S. Const.

art. I, § 3, cl. 1, and id. art. I, § 5, cl. 3), means that “each time the President ... accepts a foreign

emolument without seeking congressional consent, plaintiffs suffer a concrete and particularized

injury—the deprivation of the right to vote on whether to consent to the President’s acceptance of

the prohibited foreign emolument.” Id. at 65.

Second, the Foreign Emoluments Clause contains another unusual feature, setting it apart

from even the Appointments and Treaty Clauses—it regulates the private conduct of federal

officials. Because President Trump is violating the Clause through his private business enterprises,

without the need to use government money or personnel to commit those violations, “there are no

11
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 21 of 55

federal appropriations associated with the President’s receipt of prohibited foreign emoluments,”

and thus “Congress’ appropriations power cannot be used to obtain a legislative remedy, such as

refusing to appropriate funds.” Id. at 68.

Denied their right to cast specific votes to which the Constitution expressly entitles them,

deprived of any ability to remedy this harm through the power of the purse, and lacking any other

“adequate remedy” for the President’s constitutional violations, Raines v. Byrd, 521 U.S. 811, 829

(1997), Plaintiffs are experiencing a harm that falls within the narrow class of institutional injuries

over which individual members of Congress may sue. “The President’s alleged acceptance of

prohibited foreign emoluments as though Congress provided consent is indistinguishable from

‘treating a vote that did not pass as if it had,’” Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 62 (quoting Campbell

v. Clinton, 203 F.3d 19, 22 (D.C. Cir. 2000)), and “as soon as the President accepts a prohibited

foreign emolument without obtaining congressional consent, his acceptance is irreversible,” id.

(citing Campbell, 203 F.3d at 22-23). “Accordingly, plaintiffs adequately allege that the President

has completely nullified their votes.” Id. And “[c]omplete vote nullification is clearly a type of

institutional injury sufficient to support legislator standing.” Id. at 61 (quoting Cummings v.

Murphy, 321 F. Supp. 3d 92, 105 (D.D.C. 2018)); see Raines, 521 U.S. at 823-24, 826.

The President has no response to this. Instead, his arguments are essentially “identical to

the arguments he asserted in his [motion to dismiss], all of which the Court carefully and

thoroughly considered and ultimately rejected.” In re Special Proceedings, 840 F. Supp. 2d at 372.

With few exceptions, he offers no “new argument,” and he certainly provides no “new support for

his previously-raised arguments.” Id. In the few places where the President does respond directly

to the reasoning of this Court’s decisions, he utterly fails to mount a credible case, making clear

that he cannot make “a strong showing” that he is “likely” to prevail. Nken, 556 U.S. at 426.

12
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 22 of 55

The President advances two main contentions. The first is that Plaintiffs’ claims do not fit

the vote-nullification framework of Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433 (1939). The second is that

Plaintiffs have adequate legislative remedies. On neither claim is he likely to succeed.

Vote nullification. The President bizarrely claims that “Coleman has never been extended

to confer standing on federal legislators in a suit involving inter-branch conflicts.” Def. Mem. 10.

But of course the D.C. Circuit has concluded numerous times that members of Congress have

standing under Coleman’s vote-nullification rationale, including in cases based on alleged

presidential violations of the Constitution. See Kennedy v. Sampson, 511 F.2d 430, 434-36 (D.C.

Cir. 1974); Goldwater v. Carter, 617 F.2d 697 (D.C. Cir. 1979) (en banc); Riegle v. Fed. Open

Mkt. Comm., 656 F.2d 873 (D.C. Cir. 1981); Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Emps., AFL-CIO v. Pierce, 697

F.2d 303 (D.C. Cir. 1982); Barnes v. Kline, 759 F.2d 21 (D.C. Cir. 1984), vacated as moot, 479

U.S. 361 (1987); Bliley v. Kelly, 23 F.3d 507 (D.C. Cir. 1994). The Coleman-style vote

nullification experienced by Plaintiffs here is precisely analogous to the alleged injuries that the

D.C. Circuit recognized were cognizable in these cases. See, e.g., Goldwater, 617 F.2d at 702.

Raines reaffirmed Coleman and suggested that individual members of Congress can sue

the executive if their votes are completely nullified. See Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 62, 65-66.

This is not a controversial proposition. See, e.g., Cummings, 321 F. Supp. 3d at 105 (examining

“whether vote nullification is the only type of institutional injury that grants individual legislators

standing” (emphasis added and omitted)).

Raines also suggested that the deprivation of a future vote can amount to vote nullification

under Coleman, see Raines, 521 U.S. at 823-24, which the Supreme Court later confirmed in

Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, 135 S. Ct. 2652, 2665

(2015); see Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 66.

13
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 23 of 55

Given all this, it is clear that Plaintiffs’ claims fit within the Coleman framework and that

the Supreme Court has endorsed this framework. The President’s arguments, therefore, hinge on

the D.C. Circuit’s two post-Raines decisions. But those decisions cannot help him. In Chenoweth

v. Clinton, 181 F.3d 112 (D.C. Cir. 1999), the Circuit held that individual members of Congress

could not sue the President over a claim that “the President’s creation of [a] program by executive

order exceeded his statutory and constitutional authority.” Id. Such action, the plaintiffs alleged,

caused “a dilution of their authority as legislators,” id. at 115, an injury that might have been

cognizable under the D.C. Circuit’s pre-Raines precedent, see Pls. Opp. to Mot. to Dismiss 9-10

(Dkt. No. 17). But in Chenoweth the court concluded that “the portions of our legislative standing

cases upon which the current plaintiffs rely are untenable in the light of Raines.” Chenoweth, 181

F.3d at 115 (emphasis added).

Although the Chenoweth plaintiffs tried to frame their injury as a deprivation of their right

to vote on legislation, see id. at 113, the court explained that there was no interference with

Congress’s ability to pass legislation or with the plaintiffs’ ability to vote on legislation. “Unlike

the plaintiffs in Kennedy and Coleman, therefore, they cannot claim their votes were effectively

nullified by the machinations of the Executive.” Id. at 117. Thus, Chenoweth carefully

differentiated between claims based on mere dilution of influence, which Raines foreclosed, and

claims based on nullification of specific votes, which Raines did not foreclose. The Chenoweth

plaintiffs failed because they plausibly alleged only the former. Id. (“Their claim ... that the

President’s implementation of the [program] without congressional consent injured them by

diluting their authority … is indistinguishable from the claim to standing the ... Court rejected

in Raines. Nor can the Representatives claim that their vote was nullified ....” (emphasis added)).

As for Campbell v. Clinton, 203 F.3d 19 (D.C. Cir. 2000), that case supports the concept

14
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 24 of 55

of vote nullification advanced by Plaintiffs. There, the D.C. Circuit explained that under Coleman,

as interpreted by Raines, vote nullification means “treating a vote that did not pass as if it had, or

vice versa.” Id. at 22 (citing Raines, 521 U.S. at 824). This does not mean “that the President

‘nullifies’ a congressional vote and thus legislators have standing whenever the government does

something Congress voted against, still less that congressmen would have standing anytime a

President allegedly acts in excess of statutory authority.” Id. Rather, true vote nullification occurs

only in the “unusual situation” where members of Congress lack “an adequate political remedy.”

Id. at 21-22 (citing Raines, 521 U.S. at 829). The plaintiffs in Campbell failed because they had

such a remedy. See id. at 23 (contrasting the “powerless” Coleman senators with the Campbell

plaintiffs, who “enjoy ample legislative power to have stopped prosecution of the ‘war’”).

The concept of vote nullification adopted by the D.C. Circuit in its most recent decisions

on legislator standing, therefore, completely aligns with the concept advanced by Plaintiffs here.

See Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 62.2

Adequate legislative remedies. President Trump appears to concede that Congress cannot

stop him from unlawfully accepting foreign emoluments by exercising its power of the purse—the

“ultimate weapon of enforcement available to the Congress,” United States v. Richardson, 418

U.S. 166, 178 n.11 (1974)); see Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 68 (“in contrast to the situation in

Chenoweth and Campbell, Congress’ appropriations power cannot be used to obtain a legislative

remedy”). The President’s omission tacitly acknowledges that Congress is deprived here of its

“most complete and effectual weapon,” United States v. Munoz-Flores, 495 U.S. 385, 395 (1990)

2
The other two arguments the President raises—that Coleman is inapt because the injury
there “did not damage all members of the legislature,” Def. Mem. 12, and that vote nullification
always requires plaintiffs to constitute “a sufficient proportion of the legislature to take legislative
action,” id. at 11—merely repeat points he made in his motion to dismiss, without offering any
new analysis or support. See Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 64.

15
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 25 of 55

(quoting The Federalist No. 58, at 359 (Madison) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961)), a tool that is vitally

important because it enables Congress to take unilateral action. See Noel Canning v. NLRB, 705

F.3d 490, 510 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (“The Framers placed the power of the purse in the Congress in

large part because ... the appropriations power was a tool with which the legislature could resist

‘the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of government.’” (quoting The Federalist No.

58, supra, at 357). That concession alone is damning to his claim.

The President also appears to concede that legislation is not an adequate remedy for his

violations. At least, he offers no persuasive response to this Court’s observation that legislation

“flips th[e] burden” imposed by the Clause, “placing the burden on Members of Congress to

convince a majority of their colleagues to enact the suggested legislation.” Blumenthal, 335 F.

Supp. 3d at 67. His only gesture in that direction involves editing the Clause to remove its

requirement of prior consent. See Def. Mem. 16 (“the Constitution’s only requirement” for

consenting to emoluments is that it proceed through the normal legislative channels (emphasis

added)). The President similarly ignores the fact that the Constitution does not require legislation

to disapprove of an emolument—for disapproval is the default in the absence of affirmative

consent. Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 62 (“The Clause requires the President to ask Congress

before accepting a prohibited foreign emolument.”).3

With nothing to say concerning legislation or appropriations, the President revives his

3
Beyond this, persuading the President to voluntarily stop enriching himself by signing
legislation to that effect cannot be regarded as an adequate remedy. The President’s personal
financial stake in the matter introduces a dynamic that was entirely absent in Raines, Campbell,
and Chenoweth. Indeed, no previous case in which a court suggested legislation as an available
remedy involved a president with this kind of direct, private interest in the defeat of that legislation.
And requiring Congress to override a presidential veto would, of course, exacerbate the burden-
shifting problem: instead of requiring a congressional majority to approve foreign emoluments, it
would require a two-thirds majority to disapprove them.

16
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 26 of 55

contention that Congress can still vote to approve or condemn the President’s emoluments after he

accepts them (assuming, of course, that Congress learns about them). See Def. Mem. 13

(“Congress still has the ability to vote on whether to consent to the President’s alleged acceptance

of foreign emoluments, even if post hoc.”). As this Court has recognized, however, that caveat is

the whole ballgame. The ability to approve an emolument after its acceptance does not restore

what has been lost: “each Member’s constitutional right to vote before the President accepts a

prohibited foreign emolument.” Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 54 (emphasis added). And a

post hoc vote to condemn the President’s conduct would be merely symbolic—it would not “force

him to return” the emoluments. Id. at 68. This option, therefore, cannot be regarded as a viable

means of “maintaining the effectiveness of their votes.” Coleman, 307 U.S. at 438.

Compounding this problem, Congress cannot vote on what it does not know about, and

“the President has not provided any information to Congress about the prohibited foreign

emoluments.” Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 68. “Legislating after Congress happens to learn

about his acceptance of a prohibited foreign emolument through news reports is clearly an

inadequate remedy.” Id. The President disputes that proposition “because Congress has tools to

carry out its legislative functions and does not require civil discovery to do so.” Def. Mem. 16-17

(citing cases concerning Congress’s subpoena power). That was an unsatisfactory rejoinder even

when the President made it last October: the Clause imposes no burden on Congress to ferret out

emoluments that presidents may be accepting in secret, and indeed, “[t]he only way the Clause can

achieve its purpose is for the President to seek and obtain the consent of Congress before he accepts

foreign Emoluments.” Blumenthal v. Trump, 2019 WL 1923398, at *13 (D.D.C. Apr. 30, 2019).

And it is a downright outrageous assertion for the President to make today, given his unprecedented

refusal to respond to legitimate congressional inquiries—in defiance of the very Supreme Court

17
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 27 of 55

authority he cited to this Court.4

The President has one final suggestion. Congress can retaliate, he says, against the

President on topics unrelated to his Foreign Emoluments Clause violations. It could “refuse to fund

unrelated matters … or even reduce budgets for the Executive Branch; the Senate could reject

presidential nominees, or could refuse to provide consent to enter into other treaties submitted by

the President.” Def. Mem. 15 (citation and quotation marks omitted). In other words, the President

is arguing that Congress, instead of going to court for a legal ruling, should instead block treaties

that it believes are in the nation’s best interest, reject the appointment of leaders it believes to be

qualified, and cut funding for government activities that it believes benefit the American people,

all to coerce the President into obeying the Constitution. The separation of powers does not require

that destructive result, as the D.C. Circuit has recognized. See Barnes, 759 F.2d at 29 (discussing

“retaliation by Congress in the form of refusal to approve presidential nominations, budget

proposals, and the like,” and concluding: “That sort of political cure seems to us considerably

worse than the disease, entailing, as it would, far graver consequences for our constitutional system

than does a properly limited judicial power to decide what the Constitution means in a given

case.”).

2. Scope of the Foreign Emoluments Clause

This Court explained in its April 30 opinion that Plaintiffs have stated a claim against the

President for violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause because, among other things, “the text and

4
See Oral Argument Transcript at 14-17, Trump v. Cummings, No. 19-1136 (D.D.C. May
14, 2019) (President’s private attorney William S. Consovoy arguing that Congress lacks power
to use subpoenas to investigate whether the President is violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause);
Letter from Pat A. Cipollone, Counsel to the President, to Chairman Jerrold Nadler, at 4 (May 15,
2019), https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6004364-Cipollone-Letter-to-Nadler-5-15-
19.html#document/p1 (arguing that Congress lacks power “to conduct a pseudo law enforcement
investigation” concerning the President).

18
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 28 of 55

structure of the Clause ... support plaintiffs’ definition of ‘Emolument’ rather than that of the

President.” Blumenthal, 2019 WL 1923398, at *6. Nowhere did this Court suggest that this was a

close call. On the contrary, this Court explained that the President’s interpretation “disregards the

ordinary meaning of the term as set forth in the vast majority of Founding-era dictionaries; is

inconsistent with the text, structure, historical interpretation, adoption, and purpose of the Clause;

and is contrary to Executive Branch practice over the course of many years.” Id. at *1.

The President “offers no new rationale for why that conclusion was incorrect, beyond the

argument[s] that [this Court] explicitly rejected.” Nesbitt, 704 F. Supp. 2d at 53. Indeed, the

President tries to use the thoroughness of the Court’s opinion to his advantage, citing the depth of

this Court’s analysis as illustrating “the complexity of the interpretive task.” Def. Supp. Br. 10.

The President seems to suggest that whenever a court must engage in an extended analysis, the

conclusion is inherently doubtful. That is, of course, wrong, and the President has not shown that

his interpretation of the Clause is likely to succeed on appeal.

Significantly, no neutral arbiter has ever accepted the cramped interpretation of the Clause

put forth by the President. The only two judges to have ruled on the matter have soundly rejected

that interpretation. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel rejected a narrow view of

the Clause in an opinion that is directly on point.5 And recently the Inspector General of the U.S.

General Services Administration questioned the President’s view as well.6

Original public meaning of “emolument.” The President continues to cite the narrower

alternative definition of “emolument” found in Barclay’s dictionary: “profit arising from an office

or employ.” Def. Supp. Br. 11. He has absolutely no response to Plaintiffs’ rejoinder that this

5
Applicability of the Emoluments Clause to Non-Government Members of ACUS, 17 Op.
O.L.C. 114 (1993).
6
See Exhibit A to Pls. Notice of Supp. Authority 11-13 (Dkt. No. 63-1).

19
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 29 of 55

dictionary “defines ‘employ’ not as ‘employment’ but as ‘a person’s trade, business’ ... and

therefore this source supports defining an Emolument to include ‘profit arising from ... a person’s

trade, business.’” Blumenthal, 2019 WL 1923398, at *3 n.5; see also Office, Barclay’s Dictionary

(1774) (defining “office” to include not only “any public charge or employment” but also “private

employment”). The President therefore fails to show that the “narrower definition of the term” in

Founding-era dictionaries even supports his argument.

The same error infects the lone academic article the President attempts to use to undermine

the weight of evidence from Founding-era dictionaries. See Def. Supp. Br. 11. More recent

scholarship employing the same methods “found no evidence that emolument had a distinct narrow

meaning of ‘profit arising from an office or employ.’ All three analyses indicated just the opposite:

emolument was consistently used and understood as a general and inclusive term.” Br. Amici

Curiae of Prof. Clark D. Cunningham and Prof. Jesse Egbert on Behalf of Neither Party 2-3, In

re: Donald Trump, No. 18-2486 (4th Cir. Jan. 29, 2019).

Text and structure. This Court next concluded that “the text and structure of the Clause,

together with the other uses of the term in the Constitution, support plaintiffs’ definition of

‘Emolument’ rather than that of the President.” Blumenthal, 2019 WL 1923398, at *6. The

President’s textual analysis in his supplemental brief is purely a reiteration of the arguments made

in his motion to dismiss, a tactic that “cannot establish the necessary likelihood of success.”

Watson Labs., 2012 WL 13076147, at *1.

History. This Court was also “persuaded that the adoption of the Clause and its historical

interpretation support plaintiffs’ definition rather than that of the President.” Blumenthal, 2019

WL 1923398, at *8. The President’s leading response to that conclusion is “the historical precedent

of President Washington purchasing public land from the federal government,” Def. Supp. Br. 15,

20
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 30 of 55

which the President discussed at length in his motion to dismiss.

This was weak tea to begin with, relying as it did “on one historical incident,” Blumenthal,

2019 WL 1923398, at *8, that was surrounded by ambiguity and from which numerous inferences

were required to be drawn to support the President’s argument. See id. But here too, more recent

research undermines whatever meager support this incident might once have offered. The GSA’s

Office of the Inspector General “found evidence in the historical records and other accounts that

these six lots were owned privately,” not by the federal government, see Dkt. No. 63-1, at 15,

destroying the entire predicate for the argument. And in any event, Washington’s conduct would

at most have violated the Domestic Emoluments Clause, which does not contain the expansive

language of the Foreign Emoluments Clause (“any ... Emolument ... of any kind whatever”).

The rest of the President’s discussion here is simply a reiteration of the same “dog that

didn’t bark” arguments, Blumenthal, 2019 WL 1923398, at *7 (quoting Plaintiffs’ brief), that this

Court has already considered and rejected.

Purpose. As before, “[t]he President pays little attention to interpreting the meaning of

‘Emolument’ by reference to the purpose of the Clause,” id. at *8, and for obvious reasons: he

simply cannot “explain why the Clause would prevent officers from being paid to review a Ph.D.

thesis, consult on power plants or meteorology, or teach at a public high school, but then would

allow an officer to accept millions of dollars through his business empire,” Pls. Opp. to Mot. to

Dismiss at 40-41 (footnotes omitted), particularly when the official in question is the President—

the person empowered to “make the most sensitive and far-reaching decisions entrusted to any

official under our constitutional system,” Nixon v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 731, 752 (1982).

Instead, the President continues to argue that difficult questions may arise about the scope

of the Clause in light of how Plaintiffs and this Court have interpreted the term “emolument.” Def.

21
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 31 of 55

Supp. Br. 16. Ignoring the fact that the Clause is limited by more than the meaning of this word—

such as the requirement that an officeholder “accept” an emolument “from” a foreign state—he

reiterates his claim that Plaintiffs’ view would automatically prohibit, for instance, holding stock

at a publicly traded company that deals with foreign states. He further asserts that this would be

an “absurd” result because such conduct has been “previously accepted.” Id.7

As with any constitutional provision, there may be room for debate about the Clause’s outer

reaches. But none of the President’s hypothetical examples are at issue here. This Court was

presented with a choice between two alternative interpretations of the Clause. It concluded that the

President’s interpretation failed under every relevant test. Blumenthal, 2019 WL 1923398, at *1.

The President needs much more than a few hypotheticals to make a “strong showing that he is

likely to succeed on the merits.” Nken, 556 U.S. at 434.

Executive branch and other precedent. Finally, the President rejects the wealth of

precedent in opinions by the Office of Legal Counsel and the Comptroller General because, he

says, in most of them “the underlying facts involved an employment or employment-like

relationship between the federal officeholder and the foreign government.” Def. Supp. Br. 18.

First, Plaintiffs have already explained the simple reason for that: “OLC and the

Comptroller General render decisions in response to requests from federal officers. Most such

officers are not real estate magnates, but rather people who earn money by providing their

individual labor or expertise.” Blumenthal, 2019 WL 1923398, at *10 (quoting Plaintiffs’ brief).

Second, at least one OLC opinion “directly contradicts [the President’s] narrow reading of

the Clause,” concluding that “non-governmental lawyers who were members of the Administrative

7
The President cites no precedent demonstrating who, exactly, has “previously accepted”
the legitimacy of the various actions he discusses. See id.

22
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 32 of 55

Conference of the United States (‘ACUS’) could not receive partnership distributions from their

respective firms where the distribution would include fees from foreign government clients even

though the lawyers ‘did not personally represent a foreign government, and indeed had no personal

contact with that client of the firm.’” Id. (quoting 17 Op. O.L.C. at 119). The Court agreed that

this opinion “devastates” the President’s argument. Id.

Unbelievably, the President is still pushing the same transparent falsehood that he used

earlier to try to distinguish this OLC opinion. The opinion, he says, is “readily distinguishable”

because it “concern[ed] law partners sharing the duty of loyalty to their client.” Def. Supp. Br. 18;

see Mot. to Dismiss 36 n.47 (Dkt. No. 15-1). Plaintiffs have already pointed out that “OLC’s

decision had nothing to do with legal ethics rules regarding client loyalty, but rested instead on the

simple proposition that ‘some portion of the member’s income could fairly be attributed to a

foreign government.’” Pls. Opp. to Mot. to Dismiss 40 (quoting 17 Op. O.L.C. at 119 (citation

omitted)). That the President continues to rely on this fabricated insinuation provides only one

more reason that he is not “likely to succeed” on interlocutory appeal. Nken, 556 U.S. at 434.

3. Availability of Equitable Relief

President Trump also disputes this Court’s conclusion that “this is a proper case in which

to exercise its equitable discretion to enjoin allegedly unconstitutional action by the President.”

Blumenthal, 2019 WL 1923398, at *13. His contentions lack any substance.

The President suggests that allowing equitable relief here would “create remedies

previously unknown to equity jurisdiction.” Def. Supp. Br. 5 (quoting Grupo Mexicano de

Desarrollo, S.A. v. All. Bond Fund, Inc., 527 U.S. 308, 332 (1999)). But “‘it is established practice

… to issue injunctions to protect rights safeguarded by the Constitution’ unless there is a reason

not to do so.” Blumenthal, 2019 WL 1923398, at *13 (quoting Free Enter. Fund v. PCAOB, 561

23
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 33 of 55

U.S. 477, 491 n.2 (2010)). The only reason suggested by the President is that Plaintiffs are not

potential defendants in an enforcement proceeding, which he claims is the only situation

warranting relief under traditional equity principles. His earlier briefing cited no authority for that

proposition, as this Court pointedly observed. See id. In light of the Court’s observation, the silence

on this point in the President’s latest brief is deafening: no such authority exists. And the Supreme

Court has said the opposite: “an implied private right of action directly under the Constitution”

exists “as a general matter.” Free Enter. Fund, 561 U.S. at 491 n.2; Armstrong v. Exceptional

Child Ctr., Inc., 135 S. Ct. 1378, 1385-86 (2015) (“equitable relief ... is traditionally available to

enforce federal law”); Harmon v. Brucker, 355 U.S. 579, 581-82 (1958) (“Generally, judicial relief

is available to one who has been injured by an act of a government official which is in excess of

his express or implied powers.”).

President Trump also claims that equitable relief is improper where Congress has not

created a cause of action. But that is contrary to long-established practice and basic principles of

equity. “The ability to sue to enjoin unconstitutional actions by state and federal officers … reflects

a long history of judicial review of illegal executive action, tracing back to England.” Armstrong,

135 S. Ct. at 1384. The Framers incorporated this established tradition when they defined the

“judicial Power” to encompass “all Cases, in Law and Equity.” U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1; see

Grupo Mexicano de Desarrollo, 527 U.S. at 318. “At the time of the American Founding, it was

not uncommon for Chancery to enforce the common law through equitable remedies even where

the common law might not itself make damages available.” John F. Preis, In Defense of Implied

Injunctive Relief in Constitutional Cases, 22 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 1, 15 (2013). And so,

from the early days of the Republic, courts have used their equitable power to restrain unlawful

24
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 34 of 55

executive action, regardless of the existence of a statutory cause of action.8

President Trump also repeats his one-size-fits-all argument for escaping accountability:

that the judiciary may not enjoin the President. But he adds nothing to that argument, which this

Court has already rejected. Moreover, this Court has not yet enjoined the President and would

always have the option of issuing a declaratory judgment. Nat’l Treasury Emps. Union v. Nixon,

492 F.2d 587, 616 (D.C. Cir. 1974). This argument will not succeed on interlocutory appeal.

B. Irreparable Harm

Even if President Trump could make a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the

merits, that would not be enough. John Doe Co., 849 F.3d at 1131-32; Va. Petroleum Jobbers, 259

F.2d at 926 (despite “probability of success on the merits,” an “inadequate showing on the

remaining ... considerations prevents us from granting the stay”). The President must also show

that he “will be irreparably injured absent a stay.” Nken, 556 U.S. at 434.

Indeed, the very reason that courts may enter stays pending appeal is to prevent irreparable

harm. Nken, 556 U.S. at 432 (“authority to grant stays” is “justified by the perceived need ‘to

prevent irreparable injury to the parties or to the public’ pending review” (quoting Scripps-Howard

Radio v. FCC, 316 U.S. 4, 9 (1942))). Thus, “[w]hen there appears to be no real harm to prevent,

a court is justified in refusing to provide such relief.” Comm. in Solidarity with the People of El

Salvador v. Sessions, 929 F.2d 742, 746 (D.C. Cir. 1991); Wisc. Gas, 758 F.2d at 674 (addressing

8
Recognition of this authority is as old as Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 154, 162-73
(1803). See also Kendall v. United States ex rel. Stokes, 37 U.S. 524, 623-24 (1838); Carroll v.
Safford, 44 U.S. 441, 463 (1845); Amer. Sch. of Magnetic Healing v. McAnnulty, 187 U.S. 94,
109-11 (1902); Santa Fe Pac. R.R. Co. v. Payne, 259 U.S. 197, 198-99 (1922); Land v. Dollar,
330 U.S. 731, 734, 736-37 (1947); Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952);
Vitarelli v. Seaton, 359 U.S. 535, 537-38, 540, 545 (1959); Oestereich v. Selective Serv. Sys. Local
Bd. No. 11, 393 U.S. 233, 235, 238-39 (1968); Sale v. Haitian Ctrs. Council, Inc., 509 U.S. 155,
165, 170 (1993). President Trump’s citations to cases involving implied rights of action for
damages are irrelevant. See Def. Supp. Br. 6-7.

25
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 35 of 55

only irreparable harm because that factor was sufficient to “dispose[] of the[] motions”); Baker v.

Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahirya, 810 F. Supp. 2d 90, 97 (D.D.C. 2011) (“the court of

appeals has found that the failure to make any showing of irreparable harm is grounds for refusing

to grant a stay, even if the other three factors merit relief” (citing cases)).

Despite the fact that the President must establish “irreparable harm” to merit a stay, the

President’s motion remarkably does not even utter the term “irreparable harm” in discussing the

consequences of this suit moving forward. Indeed, the President makes only the most perfunctory

effort to explain how denying a stay could cause him any kind of harm at all. Yet under the “high

standard” the D.C. Circuit has established, Steele, 287 F. Supp. 3d at 5 (quoting Chaplaincy, 454

F.3d at 297), irreparable injury “must be ‘both certain and great,’ ‘actual and not theoretical,’

‘beyond remediation,’ and ‘of such imminence that there is a clear and present need for equitable

relief to prevent irreparable harm.’” Mexichem Specialty Resins, 787 F.3d at 555 (quoting

Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 297). Relief “will not be granted against something merely feared as liable

to occur at some indefinite time.” Wisc. Gas, 758 F.2d at 674 (quotation marks omitted).

For this reason, the Circuit requires “that the movant substantiate the claim that irreparable

injury is ‘likely’ to occur,” and it consistently rejects “unsubstantiated and speculative allegations.”

Id.; see, e.g., John Doe Co., 849 F.3d at 1134 (rejecting “entirely unsubstantiated and conclusory

assertions”); Doe 1, 2017 WL 6553389, at *2 (rejecting “sweeping and conclusory statements”);

CREW, 904 F.3d at 1019 (rejecting claims that “fail to rise beyond the speculative level”). Movants

who rely on speculation and “fail to articulate a tangible injury” are not entitled to relief.

Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 298; see Nken, 556 U.S. at 434-35 (“simply showing some possibility of

irreparable injury fails to satisfy the second factor” (citation and quotation marks omitted)).

Those standards doom the President’s request. In the only paragraph of his motion that

26
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 36 of 55

even discusses the subject, see Def. Supp. Br. 20, the President offers nothing but “sweeping and

conclusory statements,” Doe 1, 2017 WL 6553389, at *2, and “unsubstantiated and speculative

allegations,” Wisc. Gas, 758 F.2d at 674. His argument, in fact, boils down to a single,

unsupported, categorical assertion: “Any discovery would necessarily be a distraction to the

President’s performance of his constitutional duties.” Def. Supp. Br. 20.

But the President has “provided no non-conclusory factual basis” for this assertion, Doe 1,

2017 WL 6553389, at *2, and he fails to explain “precisely,” id., how the discovery Plaintiffs seek

could meaningfully distract him from his duties. See John Doe Co., 849 F.3d at 1135 (“As the

Supreme Court has explained, ‘the expense and disruption of defending [oneself] in protracted

adjudicatory proceedings’ is not an irreparable harm.” (quoting FTC v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal.,

449 U.S. 232, 244 (1980) (brackets added by John Doe Co.))); United States v. W. Elec. Co., 777

F.2d 23, 30 (D.C. Cir. 1985) (“The cost and delay associated with litigation does not serve to

establish irreparable harm....”). While he baldly asserts that Plaintiffs are set to “embark on what

likely will be intrusive discovery of the President,” including inquiries into his “official actions,”

Def. Supp. Br. 5, 2, “this allegation is purely hypothetical,” Wisc. Gas, 758 F.2d at 674, and “far

too speculative,” Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 298. No discovery plan has been approved by this Court

or even submitted by the parties. Indeed, Plaintiffs have not indicated that they will seek any

information from the executive branch or any other government. Plaintiffs intend to focus their

discovery requests on third-party companies owned by the President—companies that he has

repeatedly claimed he has no involvement in running. To the extent that Plaintiffs may need access

to some of President Trump’s personal financial records, he does not explain how this limited

document discovery would “necessarily” distract him from his duties.

In sum, the President’s claims are “entirely unsubstantiated.” Holiday Tours, 559 F.2d at

27
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 37 of 55

843 n.3. In making them, the President ignores the “requirement that the movant substantiate the

claim that irreparable injury is ‘likely’ to occur.” Wisc. Gas, 758 F.2d at 674. “Bare allegations of

what is likely to occur are of no value .... The movant must provide ... proof indicating that the

harm is certain to occur in the near future.” Id. President Trump fails to do that. Indeed, “belying

[his] claims of irreparable tangible harm at this point,” Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 298, he is forced

to speculate about the nature and scope of discovery that Plaintiffs will seek, Def. Supp. Br. 2, 5,

and the President’s empty assertion does not show that any risk of interference with his presidential

duties caused by discovery in this case is so certain, great, and imminent that there is “a clear and

present need” for a stay. Newby, 838 F.3d at 8. If anything, his paltry showing “underscores the

absence in this proceeding of any discrete injury that is of such imminence that equitable relief is

urgently necessary.” Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 298 (quotation marks omitted); cf. Wisc. Gas, 758

F.2d at 675 (“The fact that petitioners have not attempted to provide any substantiation is a clear

abuse of this court’s time and resources.”). And by advancing his assertion “without any evidence

to support such a finding,” the President “ask[s] this court to act on pure conjecture.” Id. at 676;

see Cuomo, 772 F.2d at 977 (explaining that “we test these harms for substantiality, likelihood of

occurrence and adequacy of proof”). This “is far from the ‘certain and great’ injury that is required

in this Circuit.” Council of D.C. v. Gray, 2014 WL 11015652, at *2 (D.D.C. May 22, 2014)

(quoting Cuomo, 772 F.2d at 976).

Nor can the President demonstrate irreparable harm simply by waiving around the phrase

“separation of powers.” See John Doe Co., 849 F.3d at 1135 (“[T]he [plaintiff] insists that any

alleged separation-of-powers injury is by its very nature irreparable. The short answer is that this

Court has held otherwise.”); id. (without “‘immediate or ongoing harm,’” even the “‘violation of

separation of powers’ by itself is not invariably an irreparable injury” (quoting In re al-Nashiri,

28
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 38 of 55

791 F.3d 71, 79-80 (D.C. Cir. 2015))). “Since the traditional stay factors contemplate

individualized judgments in each case, the formula cannot be reduced to a set of rigid rules.”

Hilton, 481 U.S. at 777. But that is what President Trump is asking for: a rigid rule that a stay of

discovery is always required pending a request for interlocutory appeal whenever a case involves

the President of the United States. Not only is such a rule incompatible with the D.C. Circuit’s

standards, it also is contrary to Supreme Court precedent involving related presidential

controversies—including the very decisions cited by President Trump.

The President asserts, and Plaintiffs agree, that the “high respect that is owed to the office

of the Chief Executive ... should inform the conduct of [this] entire proceeding, including the

timing and scope of discovery.” Jones, 520 U.S. at 707. The President’s mistake is his assumption

that this high respect alone entitles him to a stay of discovery pending interlocutory appeal.

Contrary to that premise, the Supreme Court has consistently rebuffed the notion that the

separation of powers or the unique role of the executive automatically exempts the President from

complying with the standard rules of our legal system. Instead, the Court has made clear that “the

President, like all other government officials, is subject to the same laws that apply to all other

members of our society.” Id. at 688 (quotation marks omitted).

In Clinton v. Jones, the Court rejected a president’s categorical claim that allowing a civil

lawsuit against him to proceed to trial during his tenure in office would create “serious risks for

the institution of the Presidency.” Id. at 689 (quoting DOJ brief). The President’s bid for absolute

immunity from such process, “grounded purely in the identity of his office” was “unsupported by

precedent.” Id. at 695. As the Court explained, it is “settled that the President is subject to judicial

process in appropriate circumstances,” a principle the Court traced back to Chief Justice John

Marshall. Id. at 703-04 (citing United States v. Burr, 25 F. Cas. 30 (C.C.Va. 1807)).

29
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 39 of 55

Like this case, Clinton v. Jones involved a civil lawsuit premised on alleged legal violations

that the President committed through his private behavior.9 The case therefore did not implicate

the concerns that animated the Court’s decision in Nixon v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 731 (1982), which

held presidents absolutely immune from damages liability for official acts taken as president

because the specter of such liability would affect the discharge of their duties. Jones, 520 U.S. at

693 (“[such] immunity … enabl[es] such officials to perform their designated functions effectively

without fear that a particular decision may give rise to personal liability”); id. at 693-94 (“Our

central concern was to avoid rendering the President ‘unduly cautious in the discharge of his

official duties.’” (quoting Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. at 752 n.32)).

For that reason, President Clinton argued—as President Trump does here—that the

demands of litigation would inevitably be a distraction from his duties that would impinge on his

constitutional role. He claimed that “burdens will be placed on the President that will hamper the

performance of his official duties” and that litigation “may impose an unacceptable burden on the

President’s time and energy, and thereby impair the effective performance of his office.” Id. at

701-02; id. at 697-98 (“He submits that—given the nature of the office—the doctrine of separation

of powers places limits on the authority of the Federal Judiciary to interfere with the Executive

Branch that would be transgressed by allowing this action to proceed.”).

The Supreme Court unanimously rejected these arguments. “Presidents and other officials

face a variety of demands on their time, ... some private, some political, and some as a result of

9
To be clear, the obligation not to accept foreign emoluments, even through private
conduct, is indeed part of the President’s official duties. See Pls. Supp. Mem. 36 n.14 (Dkt. No. 50).
But this obligation is part of his official duties only because he holds federal office—not because
he is the President specifically. Thus, while the obligation is part of his duties, this obligation does
not relate to the unique responsibilities conferred on him specifically because he is the President.
The same obligation applies to every person who holds an office of profit or trust in the federal
government. See id. at 35-36.

30
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 40 of 55

official duty.” Id. at 705 n.40. Despite the President’s “‘unique position in the constitutional

scheme,’” it “does not follow ... that separation-of-powers principles would be violated by

allowing this action to proceed.” Id. at 698-99 (quoting Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. at 749). “The fact that

a federal court’s exercise of its traditional Article III jurisdiction may significantly burden the time

and attention of the Chief Executive is not sufficient to establish a violation of the Constitution.”

Id. at 703. After all: “The burden on the President’s time and energy that is a mere byproduct of

such review surely cannot be considered as onerous as the direct burden imposed by judicial review

and the occasional invalidation of his official actions.” Id. at 705 n.40. “While such distractions

may be vexing to those subjected to them, they do not ordinarily implicate constitutional

separation-of-powers concerns.” Id. at 706.

Crucially, the Court also emphasized that President Clinton’s request to postpone the trial

was “premature.” Id. at 708. “The proponent of a stay bears the burden of establishing its need,”

and at the time “there was no way to assess whether a stay ... would be warranted. Other than the

fact that a trial may consume some of the President’s time and attention, there [was] nothing in the

record to enable a judge to assess the potential harm that may ensue.” Id. President Clinton, in

other words, made the same cardinal error that President Trump makes here: “presuming that

interactions between the Judicial Branch and the Executive, even quite burdensome interactions,

necessarily rise to the level of constitutionally forbidden impairment of the Executive’s ability to

perform its constitutionally mandated functions.” Id. at 702; see id. at 710 (Breyer, J., concurring

in the judgment) (“the President cannot simply rest upon the claim that a private civil lawsuit for

damages will interfere with the constitutionally assigned duties of the Executive Branch ... without

detailing any specific responsibilities or explaining how or the degree to which they are affected

31
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 41 of 55

by the suit” (quotation marks omitted)).10

Here too, President Trump’s claims about potential distraction from his duties are

premature and unsubstantiated. Under Jones, it is clearly insufficient that the discovery process

“may consume some of the President’s time and attention.” Id. at 708 (majority opinion). But the

bare possibility of “distraction to the President’s performance of his constitutional duties” is all

the President has offered in the way of irreparable harm. Def. Supp. Br. 20. Missing is any specific,

credible explanation of why such distraction, even assuming it occurs, would inevitably be

significant. As noted earlier, discovery will be focused on third-party businesses that the President

claims to have no involvement in running. Any requests for materials concerning the President’s

personal finances should impose a minimal burden at most. A unanimous Supreme Court did not

blink an eye while blessing far more time-consuming demands in Jones. See 520 U.S. at 691-92

(“We assume that the testimony of the President, both for discovery and for use at trial, may be

taken at the White House at a time that will accommodate his busy schedule....”); id. at 692 n.14

(“Presidents have responded to written interrogatories, given depositions, and provided videotaped

trial testimony....”). Given all this, President Trump’s mere assertion of potential distraction does

not establish an irreparable harm that is “‘certain and great,’ ‘actual and not theoretical,’ and so

‘imminen[t] that there is a clear and present need for equitable relief.’” Newby, 838 F.3d at 8.

Rather, “if properly managed by the District Court,” discovery is “highly unlikely to occupy any

substantial amount of [his] time.” Jones, 520 U.S. at 702.

Significantly, Jones reflects well-entrenched principles. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled

that a subpoena duces tecum could be directed to President Jefferson, notwithstanding the latter’s

10
Notably, too, Jones concerned whether a full civil trial should be deferred until after
President Clinton’s tenure. Although the district judge had stayed any trial, the same judge “ruled
that discovery in the case could go forward,” id. at 687, and no one questioned that decision.

32
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 42 of 55

displeasure. Burr, 25 F. Cas. 30 (C.C.D. Va. 1807). The Supreme Court “unequivocally and

emphatically endorsed Marshall’s position when [it] held that President Nixon was obligated to

comply with a subpoena commanding him to produce certain tape recordings of his conversations

with his aides.” Jones, 520 U.S. at 704 (citing United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974)). In

that case, while acknowledging that courts “should be particularly meticulous” when the President

is involved, the Court made clear that broad invocations of presidential prerogatives “must be

considered in light of our historic commitment to the rule of law.” Nixon, 418 U.S. at 702, 708.

The Court went on to hold that such a “generalized assertion of privilege must yield to the

demonstrated, specific need for evidence in a pending criminal trial.” Id. at 713.

Similarly, when overruling President Nixon’s objections to a statute that required federal

employees to review presidential materials from his administration, the Supreme Court rejected

Nixon’s “bare claim” that “the mere screening of the materials by the archivists will impermissibly

interfere with candid communication of views by Presidential advisers.” Nixon v. Adm’r of Gen.

Servs., 433 U.S. 425, 451 (1977). According to the Court, Nixon offered “no reason” why review

under the statute was “likely to impair confidentiality, id. at 452; his claims of invasion of privacy

could not properly “be considered in the abstract” but only “in light of the specific provisions of

the Act,” id. at 458; and any First Amendment burden was “speculative,” id. at 467. Once again,

generalized and undifferentiated claims of presidential prerogative were found wanting.

When the Court has sustained special executive privileges that require more than “judicial

deference and restraint,” Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. at 753, it has done so because the litigation

threatened to intrude upon the internal decision-making process of the executive branch. See id. at

745 (“the head of an Executive Department … should not be under an apprehension that the

motives that control his official conduct may, at any time, become the subject of inquiry in a civil

33
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 43 of 55

suit for damages” (quoting Spalding v. Vilas, 161 U.S. 483, 498 (1896)); see Cheney v. U.S. Dist.

Court for D.C., 542 U.S. 367, 385 (2004) (“special considerations control when the Executive

Branch’s interests in maintaining the autonomy of its office and safeguarding the confidentiality

of its communications are implicated”). There is not the slightest hint that those risks are present

here. No discovery plan has been finalized, and Plaintiffs have given no indication that they will

seek any materials from the executive branch. Both the nature of this case and its posture, therefore,

are entirely different than in Cheney.11

President Trump, in sum, has not demonstrated that allowing discovery to proceed at this

point will cause him any harm that is “certain,” “great,” “actual,” and “imminen[t].” Newby, 838

F.3d at 8 (quoting Chaplaincy, 454 F. 3d at 297). As this case moves forward, if any particular

discovery requests would, in the President’s view, unjustifiably intrude upon his constitutional

role, he will be free to object to those requests at that time. His blanket resistance to permitting

any steps forward rests on the “speculative” and “hypothetical” claim, Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at

298, that “[a]ny discovery would necessarily be a distraction to the President’s performance of his

constitutional duties,” Def. Supp. Br. 20 (emphasis added), combined with the erroneous further

claim that any such distraction would necessarily derogate from the separation of powers. Both

halves of this equation are false. “Sitting Presidents have responded to court orders to provide

testimony and other information with sufficient frequency that such interactions between the

Judicial and Executive Branches can scarcely be thought a novelty.” Jones, 520 U.S. at 704-05

11
See Cheney, 542 U.S. at 385-88 (where “overly broad discovery requests” have been
issued to senior government officials who “give advice and make recommendations to the
President,” thus threatening an “unnecessary intrusion into the operation of the Office of the
President,” the executive branch need not bear the burden of “making particularized objections”
to the requests on the basis of executive privilege in order to obtain relief from them).

34
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 44 of 55

(citing examples involving Presidents Monroe, Grant, Nixon, Ford, Clinton, and Carter).

No irreparable harm has been shown—not even close. On that basis alone the President’s

motion for a stay should be denied. Wisc. Gas, 758 F.2d at 674; Baker, 810 F. Supp. 2d at 97.12

C. Harm to Plaintiffs

Even if the President could make “showings of probable success and irreparable injury,”

he would still need to demonstrate that issuing a stay will have no significant “adverse effect” on

Plaintiffs. Va. Petroleum Jobbers, 259 F.2d at 925; see In re Hardy, 561 B.R. 281, 289 (D.D.C.

2016). He has not, and cannot.

As a threshold matter, the President wrongly suggests that Plaintiffs bear the burden of

proving that they will be “irreparably harmed” by a stay. Def. Supp. Br. 20. That is flat wrong.

The burden is on the President to demonstrate that Plaintiffs will not be harmed. And he must do

more than show a lack of “irreparable” harm—he must show that Plaintiffs will suffer no

substantial harm at all. See Doe 1, 2017 WL 6553389, at *3 (“Appellants have failed to show that

issuance of the stay will not substantially injure the other parties to the proceeding.”).

And while the President claims that Plaintiffs will not be harmed by a stay, this is yet

another bare assertion made with virtually no argument. See Def. Supp. Br. 20. Given the

circumstances, the substantial harm Plaintiffs will suffer if this case is grounded to a halt “pending

resolution of the President’s motion and if applicable, pending appeal,” id., is obvious.

This is not “an ordinary civil damages action … where postponement normally is possible

12
See Mem. Op. at 41, Trump v. Comm. on Oversight & Reform, No. 19-1136 (D.D.C.
May 20, 2019) (Dkt. No. 35) (“The court is well aware that this case involves records concerning
the private and business affairs of the President of the United States. But on the question of whether
to grant a stay pending appeal, the President is subject to the same legal standard as any other
litigant that does not prevail.”).

35
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 45 of 55

without overwhelming damage to a plaintiff.” Jones, 520 U.S. at 710 (Breyer, J., concurring in the

judgment). For more than half of this President’s term, Plaintiffs have been denied their right,

explicit in the Constitution, to decide whether the President may accept specific benefits from

foreign states. With no adequate legislative recourse available, Blumenthal, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 54,

it is only through a judicial order that Plaintiffs can vindicate their “interest in maintaining the

effectiveness of their votes.” Raines, 521 U.S. at 823 (quoting Coleman, 307 U.S. at 438). As this

Court has recognized, the President’s unlawful deprivation of those votes inflicts a “concrete and

particularized” harm on a “legally protected interest” that each Plaintiff shares. Blumenthal, 335

F. Supp. 3d at 65. “A stay pending appeal would deepen and prolong [that] undeniable injury.”

Watson Labs., 2012 WL 13076147, at *3.13

Indeed, the consequences would be far worse: a stay seriously risks foreclosing the

possibility of meaningful relief. “It takes time to decide a case on appeal. Sometimes a little;

sometimes a lot.” Nken, 556 U.S. at 421. “No court can make time stand still while it considers an

appeal,” id. (quotation marks omitted), “and if a court takes the time it needs, the court’s decision

may in some cases come too late,” id.; see Landis, 299 U.S. at 256 (“Already the proceedings in

the District Court have continued more than a year. With the possibility of an intermediate appeal

to the Circuit Court of Appeals, a second year or even more may go by before this court will be

able to pass upon the Act.”).

13
With little else to substantiate his argument, the President claims that Plaintiffs’ decision
not to seek preliminary injunctive relief “forecloses any argument” that a stay will harm them. Def.
Supp. Br. 20. That contention is meritless. There are many reasons not to seek the extraordinary
remedy of a preliminary injunction even when suffering grave harm. One is that some claims are
not readily amenable to preliminary relief at the outset of litigation. Here, for instance, Plaintiffs
and the Court are still proceeding largely in the dark about the exact nature and quantity of the
President’s financial transactions with foreign governments, relying mainly on second-hand press
accounts. That lack of concrete information significantly complicates any effort to craft an
appropriately tailored preliminary injunction.

36
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 46 of 55

An appellate decision in this case is virtually guaranteed to arrive “too late,” Nken, 556

U.S. at 421, if discovery does not proceed in the meantime. At present, we are almost two and a

half years into President Trump’s term. If this Court certifies its orders for interlocutory appeal,

briefing will ensue in the D.C. Circuit on whether it should accept the appeal. The court of appeals

will need time to consider and resolve that question. Should it accept the appeal, briefing on the

merits will then commence. Even if expedited briefing is ordered, briefing and oral argument will

take months. And months more can be expected before the court renders its decision. After that,

the President will have the option of seeking en banc review, prompting additional delay while the

D.C. Circuit considers that request. Even if the Circuit denies reconsideration, the President will

then have sixty days in which to petition the Supreme Court for certiorari. Briefing will then

commence on that petition. Even if the Supreme Court declines to take the case, the President will

have achieved a de facto victory: delaying discovery to that point will have ensured that there is

not enough time in the remainder of the President’s term for Plaintiffs to seek final judgment. An

entire presidential term will have passed, therefore, with Plaintiffs unable to exercise their

constitutionally guaranteed prerogative.

These realities belie the President’s blithe assertion that Plaintiffs will be unharmed by “a

brief delay” pending appeal. Def. Supp. Br. 20. In the posture of this case, a delay of discovery

pending appeal would jeopardize Plaintiffs’ ability to vindicate their rights. For that reason, the

President’s reassurances “fail[] to show that issuance of the stay will not substantially injure the

other parties to the proceeding.” Doe 1, 2017 WL 6553389, at *3; see Jones, 520 U.S. at 707

(majority opinion) (“[I]t was an abuse of discretion for the District Court to defer the trial until

after the President leaves office. Such a lengthy and categorical stay takes no account whatever of

the respondent’s interest in bringing the case to trial.”). In the circumstances of this litigation, a

37
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 47 of 55

stay would not merely “increase the danger of prejudice” to Plaintiffs, Jones, 520 U.S. at 707-08,

but could vitiate the value of this case and its potential to vindicate their rights.

D. The Public Interest

“[I]t may be assumed that the Constitution is the ultimate expression of the public interest.”

Gordon, 721 F.3d at 653 (citation and quotation marks omitted), and the public interest is not

served by a situation that “permit[s] and prolong[s] a continuing violation of United States law.”

Nken, 556 U.S. at 436 (quoting Reno v. Am.-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm., 525 U.S. 471, 490

(1999) (brackets in Nken)); cf. Newby, 838 F.3d at 12 (“there is a substantial public interest in

having governmental agencies abide by the federal laws” (citation and quotation marks omitted));

Population Inst. v. McPherson, 797 F.2d 1062, 1082 (D.C. Cir. 1986) (“The public has an interest

in assuring [adherence] ... to Congressional directives.”); Philip Morris Inc., 314 F.3d at 622

(basing stay decision in part on promoting “broader public interests in the observance of law”

(quotation marks omitted)).

The Foreign Emoluments Clause is the Constitution’s chief bulwark against the corruption

of America’s leaders by foreign governments. The importance of the Clause’s function—ensuring

“the undivided loyalty of individuals occupying positions of trust under our government,”

Application of Emoluments Clause to Part-Time Consultant for the Nuclear Regulatory Comm’n,

10 Op. O.L.C. 96, 100 (1986)—cannot be overstated. As this Court has recognized, moreover,

“[t]he only way the Clause can achieve its purpose is for the President to seek and obtain the

consent of Congress before he accepts foreign Emoluments,” and Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged

that President Trump is violating that mandate, Blumenthal, 2019 WL 1923398, at *12-13. Indeed,

the numerous reported examples cited in Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint may be only the tip of

the iceberg, and since that complaint was filed in 2017, reports suggest that President Trump’s

38
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 48 of 55

acceptance of prohibited foreign emoluments has continued unabated. See Pls. Notice of Supp.

Authority 2-3 n.1 (Dkt. No. 63).

Despite that, President Trump insists that the special role of the presidency justifies a stay.

But the high position he occupies militates in the other direction. It is precisely because of the

President’s unique and powerful role that this case must move forward. For more than half of his

term, America’s highest officeholder has been defying the Constitution by enriching himself with

secret financial benefits from foreign governments, at least some of which are providing those

benefits to influence American foreign policy. See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 34-74 (Dkt. No. 14). Resolving

Plaintiffs’ allegations and enforcing the Foreign Emoluments Clause are matters of the utmost

importance, not only to Plaintiffs but to the nation as a whole.

The President is empowered to make “the most sensitive and far-reaching decisions

entrusted to any official under our constitutional system.” Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. at 752. As President

Trump makes foreign policy decisions that are of paramount importance to the nation’s security

and well-being, he cannot help but know how certain decisions could affect his personal business

profits. And because he is not informing Congress of the full range of emoluments he is accepting,

nor the identities of the foreign governments providing them, there is no way to gauge whether

any particular decision made by the President has been partly—even unconsciously—motivated

by his own personal financial considerations. By violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause in this

systemic and ongoing manner, the President is depriving the American people of assurance that

their highest elected official is pursuing their interests with undivided loyalty.

As these circumstances illustrate, the public interest in enforcing the Foreign Emoluments

Clause is at its height when the alleged violator is the President. As a group of former national

security officials explained as amici in this case: “Our security decisions should be based on

39
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 49 of 55

national interest, not private gain; the venues for foreign policy and national security decision

making should be embassies and diplomatic meetings, not corporate board rooms and private

resorts; the means should be diplomatic engagement, not unreported financial relationships.”

Former Nat’l Security Officials Br. 4 (Dkt. No. 22-1). By misreading the Clause, the President has

given himself “license to engage in a wide range of financial entanglements that could leave

vulnerable even the most important national security and foreign policy interests of the United

States.” Id. at 3. Thus, the strong public interest that always exists in adherence to the Constitution

is here “heightened by the circumstances as well.” Nken, 556 U.S. at 436.

President Trump simply declares that permitting discovery to proceed would trench upon

the separation of powers—contrary to Supreme Court precedent, see supra at 29-34. But

separation-of-powers concerns point in the opposite direction. The Foreign Emoluments Clause,

which demands the consent of a coordinate branch before federal officials may take specified

actions, embodies the separation of powers—a structural safeguard the Clause harnesses to prevent

corrosive foreign influence. For more than two years President Trump has trampled on that

safeguard. Therefore, “whatever way this Court decides the issues before it may impact the balance

between the political branches in this and future settings.” Comm. on the Judiciary v. Miers, 558

F. Supp. 2d 53, 95 (D.D.C. 2008). And while the harms caused by stymying this case are clear, the

President has not explained how discovery would impair the performance of his duties in any way.

Because the Clause is “of the most fundamental significance under our constitutional

structure,” the public has a “strong interest” in seeing it preserved. Newby, 838 F.3d at 12

(quotation marks omitted). The public interest therefore tips—resoundingly—against a stay.

II. The Criteria for Interlocutory Appeal Are Not Satisfied

To obtain certification of an order for interlocutory appeal, a party must identify a

40
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 50 of 55

controlling question of law “as to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion,” 28

U.S.C. § 1292(b), and also demonstrate that “an immediate appeal from the order may materially

advance the ultimate termination of the litigation,” id. Interlocutory appeals are meant to facilitate,

rather than hinder, the prompt disposition of cases. Thus a “party seeking certification pursuant to

§ 1292(b) must meet a high standard to overcome the ‘strong congressional policy against

piecemeal reviews, and against obstructing or impeding an ongoing judicial proceeding by

interlocutory appeals.’” Judicial Watch, 233 F. Supp. 2d at 20 (quoting Nixon, 418 U.S. at 690).

Such appeals, therefore, “are rarely allowed.” Nat’l Cmty. Reinvest. Coal. v. Accr. Home Lenders

Holding Co., 597 F. Supp. 2d 120, 122 (D.D.C. 2009) (quoting Judicial Watch, 233 F. Supp. 2d at

20); see Tolson v. United States, 732 F.2d 998, 1002 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (“Section 1292(b) is meant

to be applied in relatively few situations ....” (quotation marks omitted)).

A. Substantial Ground for Difference of Opinion

President Trump seeks leave to appeal this Court’s rulings on Plaintiffs’ standing, their

ability to obtain equitable relief against him, and the scope of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. On

none of those questions has he identified substantial grounds for difference of opinion. Plaintiffs

have already explained why. See supra, Part I.A. While that discussion was framed around the

President’s failure to meet the even higher standard required for a stay, it makes plain that the

President’s objections to this Court’s rulings also fail to satisfy § 1292(b).

The threshold for establishing a substantial ground for difference of opinion “is a high

one.” Judicial Watch, 233 F. Supp. 2d at 19. Although the President emphasizes the complexity

of the questions involved, § 1292(b) “was not intended merely to provide review of difficult

rulings in hard cases.” Id. at 24 (quotation marks omitted). And as Plaintiffs have shown, President

Trump’s criticism of this Court’s rulings amounts to little more than a reiteration of the same

41
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 51 of 55

arguments the Court already considered and rejected. The President offers no new reason to

question any of these rulings. “The mere claim that a decision has been wrongly decided is not

enough to justify an interlocutory appeal.” First Am. Corp. v. Al-Nahyan, 948 F. Supp. 1107, 1117

(D.D.C. 1996); see Nat’l Cmty. Reinvestment Coal., 597 F. Supp. 2d at 122 (“Mere disagreement,

even if vehement, with a court’s ruling does not establish a substantial ground for difference of

opinion….” (quoting Judicial Watch, 233 F. Supp. 2d at 20)). Nor does it suffice to say that this

Court’s rulings “interpreted and extended Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit precedent in a novel

way.” Def. Mem. 9. If that were the test, as Plaintiffs already have explained, then interlocutory

appeals would be the norm instead of the rare exception. See Pls. Opp. to Mot. for Certification

12-13. President Trump has not satisfied the relevant standard.

B. Advancing the Ultimate Termination of the Litigation

Even if the President could establish a substantial ground for difference of opinion, he still

would need to demonstrate that “an immediate appeal from the order may materially advance the

ultimate termination of the litigation.” 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). He has not done so. And if a stay were

granted, as he also requests, there is no way this condition could be satisfied.

President Trump relies on the simplistic argument that appeal should be allowed because

“resolution of … the … threshold justiciability questions in the President’s favor would terminate

this suit.” Def. Supp. Br. 1. But his “contention that certification of this Court’s Orders for

interlocutory appeal will materially advance this litigation necessarily assumes that [he] will

prevail on appeal.” Judicial Watch, 233 F. Supp. 2d at 28. As Plaintiffs have shown, that is not

likely. And such simplistic reasoning, again, would make interlocutory appeals the norm rather

than the rarely allowed exception. See Burwell, 2015 WL 13699275, at *1 (“To be sure, the case

would be over more quickly if Defendants were able to appeal—and if they prevailed—now. But

42
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 52 of 55

that is true every time a defendant’s motion to dismiss is denied.”). This Court must therefore make

a more subtle determination. Assuming that the other § 1292(b) conditions were satisfied, this

Court would need to consider the remaining steps in this case and make a predictive judgment

about the most likely route to prompt termination—a victory for the President on interlocutory

appeal, or allowing Plaintiffs to pursue their case to final judgment?

In making that calculation, this Court should consider, among other things, how likely the

President is to secure a reversal on interlocutory appeal and how promptly the case could move

toward final judgment in this Court. “Any immediate appeal under an interlocutory order could

affect the future conduct of the litigation and avoid unnecessary litigation. The key factors are

whether an appeal would likely and materially advance the ultimate determination.” Educ.

Assistance Found. v. United States, 2014 WL 12780253, at *3 (D.D.C. Nov. 21, 2014) (citation

and quotation marks omitted); see 16 Federal Practice and Procedure, supra, § 3930 (the

“disadvantages of immediate appeal increase with the probabilities that lengthy appellate

consideration will be required [and] that the order will be affirmed”).

The fastest route to the ultimate termination of this litigation is likely to follow the normal

course: deferring appeal until after summary judgment. As Plaintiffs have shown, President Trump

has scant basis to think that his arguments will prevail on interlocutory appeal. Such appeal,

therefore, is likely to entail only delay and a waste of the parties’ and the courts’ resources.

Conversely, there is no reason that discovery and summary judgment briefing cannot move swiftly.

Plaintiffs intend to pursue focused discovery aimed at proving only the basic facts essential to their

claim—that the President is accepting certain types of financial benefits from foreign governments.

Much of this should be simple: The Trump Organization is already purporting to keep track of

foreign-government payments at the President’s hotels, for purposes of the “donation” of “profits”

43
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 53 of 55

to the Treasury Department. Having already been generated, these records should be readily

accessible. Likewise, it should not be an onerous task to identify which foreign governments own

or lease space in the President’s towers or to document their annual payments.

Discovery and summary judgment briefing, therefore, can move rapidly. This

consideration, combined with the President’s low chances of success on appeal, means that the

President has not “demonstrat[ed] that interlocutory appeal of this question at this point in time

would materially advance the litigation as a whole.” Judicial Watch, 233 F. Supp. 2d at 29.

Critically, moreover, this Court’s granting of a stay pending appeal would destroy any

argument that § 1292(b)’s third prong is satisfied. Because of the considerable delays inherent in

any appeal, postponing discovery until after resolution of an interlocutory appeal would eliminate

any realistic chance of moving this case forward in a timely fashion. See supra at 37.

That fact is key because “the need for expedition of cases,” S. Rep. No. 85-2434, at *5256,

is why § 1292(b) was enacted in the first place. Its strict limitations are meant to prevent

interlocutory appeals from “result[ing] in delay rather than expedition of cases.” Id. at 5257; see

Mohawk Indus., Inc. v. Carpenter, 558 U.S. 100, 106 (2009) (“Permitting piecemeal, prejudgment

appeals ... undermines efficient judicial administration.” (quotation marks omitted)). Thus, even

when “the certified order may dispose of the entire case without need for further proceedings, ...

there may be good reason for pushing ahead, particularly if there is any reason to fear that effective

discovery is threatened by delay.” 16 Federal Practice and Procedure, supra, § 3929 (footnote

omitted). Given the posture of this case, as Plaintiffs have explained above, a stay would seriously

threaten “effective” discovery. For that reason, the § 1292(b) conditions cannot be deemed

satisfied if a stay is granted. And the President has failed to show that those conditions are satisfied

in any event.

44
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 54 of 55

CONCLUSION

President Trump’s motion for a stay “represents the mere skeleton, if that much, of a proper

motion for a stay.” Gen. Carbon Co. v. OSHRC, 854 F.2d 1329, 1329 (D.C. Cir. 1988). It “fails

completely to address some of the criteria relevant to that determination,” id. at 1330, and what it

does address simply reveals that the President cannot meet the demanding standards required for

“the extraordinary relief of a stay pending appeal.” CREW, 904 F.3d at 1017. And a stay, if granted,

would be fatal to the President’s additional request for an interlocutory appeal because it would

mean such an appeal would slow, rather than advance, the ultimate termination of this litigation.

In any event, that request also fails for the additional reason that the President does not, and cannot,

identify substantial grounds for disagreement about this Court’s rulings.

For the foregoing reasons, the President’s motions should be denied.

Respectfully submitted,

Dated: May 21, 2019 /s/ Brianne J. Gorod


Brianne J. Gorod

Elizabeth B. Wydra (DC Bar No. 483298)


Brianne J. Gorod (DC Bar No. 982075)
Brian R. Frazelle (DC Bar No. 1014116)
CONSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY CENTER
1200 18th Street, N.W., Suite 501
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 296-6889
elizabeth@theusconstitution.org
brianne@theusconstitution.org

Counsel for Plaintiffs

45
Case 1:17-cv-01154-EGS Document 74 Filed 05/21/19 Page 55 of 55

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on May 21, 2019, the foregoing document was filed with the Clerk of

the Court, using the CM/ECF system, causing it to be served on all counsel of record.

Dated: May 21, 2019


/s/ Brianne J. Gorod
Brianne J. Gorod

You might also like